When Alex Ferguson left Manchester Utd in 2013 any Man Utd fan will probably admit that they knew there would be a transition period following Ferguson’s departure. They knew that the level of success had peaked under Ferguson and that there would be the inevitable post Ferguson hangover. What they probably won’t have foreseen however is just how bad that hangover would be. United went on a winning binge under Ferguson and now as they sober up they are left dazed and faced with the harsh realisation that life at any football club, even a giant like Manchester United, is not just one big party. Can United ever be as successful again as they were under Ferguson or was he a once in a generation manager? Will United ever have a manager like him again?

The short answer is no. Alex Ferguson’s don’t come around that often. However the direction in which modern football has taken in relation to the speed at which success is demanded and how quickly managers are sacked makes it even more unlikely that a manager could even manage a club of Man Utd’s standing for 27 years let alone be as successful as Ferguson was. With the amount of money now in the game managers are expected to deliver success in a much shorter time frame than before. With Van Gaal set to lose his job sooner rather than later Man Utd’s next will be their third since Ferguson left. After one manager at the helm for 27 years United are now in very unfamiliar territory, and whatever you think about how the board run the club you can hardly accuse them of prematurely sacking Moyes or showing anything but patience with LVG. The thing is that replacing Ferguson was always going to be incredibly difficult but Man Utd have made a mess of it. Moyes was never going to be the man to replace Ferguson despite what Ferguson himself and the board may have thought. They needed a big appointment and Moyes was not it. They then compounded their error by hiring LVG. They went for experience but what they got was a man out of touch with modern football and in particular the pace of the premier league.

Man Utd’s next manager will more than likely be Jose Mourinho, however I don’t think it’s quite the done deal that most people think it is. If this turns out to be the case, then Man Utd have decided to go for the short term fix as opposed to the long term solution. Mourinho is hardly the stable and safe option but he does win trophies and Man Utd, with their backs against the wall may decide he is worth the risk. However successful he is it is hard to imagine him lasting a fraction of the time Ferguson did. Even if a manager came in who was the perfect fit for Man Utd , times have changed so much that I feel safe in saying no one will ever replicate what Ferguson did at Old Trafford. Apart from the silverware, Ferguson’s man management skills saw him turn some of the most average players into indispensable cogs in an unstoppable machine. And he has done this throughout his managerial career. No manager in recent history has got players to over perform on such a consistent basis like Ferguson has at Man Utd. Of course he has had some great players too but Ferguson is the benchmark for managers to aspire to. Man Utd need to realise you can’t replace him like for like.

What may be the best course of action going forward for United is to realise that for them to replicate anything like their success under Ferguson they need to forget the notion of a long term manager and hire managers who will constantly bring Utd onto the next level for the next manager to come in and have the foundations to do the same. They need for the club to be bigger than the manager and to keep evolving behind the scenes despite how the first team are fairing. This means always having a pool of young talented players coming through the ranks so that the squad needs to be tweaked by a new manager rather than being rebuilt every time a new manager comes in. No doubt this is easier said than done. What Man Utd need to do is come to terms with the fact that they will never have another Alex Ferguson and start realising that if they don’t start to run the club properly then before they know it they may have fallen so far behind the elite of Europe that not even Ferguson himself could restore them to the glory days of his reign.

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Will Utd Ever See Another Ferguson?

June 6, 2016 (No Comments) by theSharpeUser

When Alex Ferguson left Manchester Utd in 2013 any Man Utd fan will probably admit that they knew there would be a transition period following Ferguson’s departure. They knew that the level of success had peaked under Ferguson and that there would be the inevitable post Ferguson hangover. What they probably won’t have foreseen however is just how bad that hangover would be. United went on a winning binge under Ferguson and now as they sober up they are left dazed and faced with the harsh realisation that life at any football club, even a giant like Manchester United, is not just one big party. Can United ever be as successful again as they were under Ferguson or was he a once in a generation manager? Will United ever have a manager like him again?

The short answer is no. Alex Ferguson’s don’t come around that often. However the direction in which modern football has taken in relation to the speed at which success is demanded and how quickly managers are sacked makes it even more unlikely that a manager could even manage a club of Man Utd’s standing for 27 years let alone be as successful as Ferguson was. With the amount of money now in the game managers are expected to deliver success in a much shorter time frame than before. With Van Gaal set to lose his job sooner rather than later Man Utd’s next will be their third since Ferguson left. After one manager at the helm for 27 years United are now in very unfamiliar territory, and whatever you think about how the board run the club you can hardly accuse them of prematurely sacking Moyes or showing anything but patience with LVG. The thing is that replacing Ferguson was always going to be incredibly difficult but Man Utd have made a mess of it. Moyes was never going to be the man to replace Ferguson despite what Ferguson himself and the board may have thought. They needed a big appointment and Moyes was not it. They then compounded their error by hiring LVG. They went for experience but what they got was a man out of touch with modern football and in particular the pace of the premier league.

Man Utd’s next manager will more than likely be Jose Mourinho, however I don’t think it’s quite the done deal that most people think it is. If this turns out to be the case, then Man Utd have decided to go for the short term fix as opposed to the long term solution. Mourinho is hardly the stable and safe option but he does win trophies and Man Utd, with their backs against the wall may decide he is worth the risk. However successful he is it is hard to imagine him lasting a fraction of the time Ferguson did. Even if a manager came in who was the perfect fit for Man Utd , times have changed so much that I feel safe in saying no one will ever replicate what Ferguson did at Old Trafford. Apart from the silverware, Ferguson’s man management skills saw him turn some of the most average players into indispensable cogs in an unstoppable machine. And he has done this throughout his managerial career. No manager in recent history has got players to over perform on such a consistent basis like Ferguson has at Man Utd. Of course he has had some great players too but Ferguson is the benchmark for managers to aspire to. Man Utd need to realise you can’t replace him like for like.

What may be the best course of action going forward for United is to realise that for them to replicate anything like their success under Ferguson they need to forget the notion of a long term manager and hire managers who will constantly bring Utd onto the next level for the next manager to come in and have the foundations to do the same. They need for the club to be bigger than the manager and to keep evolving behind the scenes despite how the first team are fairing. This means always having a pool of young talented players coming through the ranks so that the squad needs to be tweaked by a new manager rather than being rebuilt every time a new manager comes in. No doubt this is easier said than done. What Man Utd need to do is come to terms with the fact that they will never have another Alex Ferguson and start realising that if they don’t start to run the club properly then before they know it they may have fallen so far behind the elite of Europe that not even Ferguson himself could restore them to the glory days of his reign.